novelapdf Chapter 9 The Cauldrons and the Candle of Time
Chapter 9 The Cauldrons and the Candle of Time
Lin Su Ri stood calmly with his hands behind his back in front of a traditional Chinese ink painting.
A voice came from behind him.
Due to the limited perspective, even from a third-person perspective, Chen Lingxi could not see who was speaking.
But the man seemed extremely arrogant, and continued, "Mother Qi is an extraordinary treasure. For an ordinary person to obtain it would be a waste of its preciousness."
In this Yuanjiang Prefecture, apart from the government officials, Lu Baizhong, Xuanhuo Temple, and the peddler, no one else can rival you and me.
Very few people in the capital know about the opportunity of the Mother Qi. If you and I join forces, we might be able to seize this great opportunity.
The person's voice was young and full of confidence, as if it were his own mother's, and he had obtained it with ease.
Lin Suri looked away from the ink painting and finally turned around.
As his perspective shifted, Chen Lingxi finally saw the person speaking.
The man was dressed in a black robe and had his face covered by a mask. The only thing that could be seen was his eyes, which seemed to have no pupils and were instead completely pale, making him extremely eerie.
"The Ancestral Mountain Mother Qi is indeed an extremely rare treasure. Whoever obtains the Ancestral Mountain Mother Qi, Brother Chao or I, will greatly increase our chances of finding the cauldron in the future, thus gaining the true essence of heaven and earth and achieving great freedom."
Lin Su Ri slowly opened his mouth...
A look of surprise flashed in the black-robed man's eyes. He was about to speak when he heard Lin Su Ri casually smile and say, "It's just a pity that there is only one ancestral mountain and probably only one source of primordial energy within the Yuanjiang Prefecture."
"How should we two share this primordial energy?"
The man in black robes seemed to have been prepared, and laughed, "Between you and me, the highest bidder wins."
If Brother Lin is willing, I am willing to offer a fragment of a cauldron as payment in exchange for our joint efforts... Once you obtain the Mother Qi, I also have a great opportunity to give to Brother Lin in exchange for the exclusive possession of the Mother Qi.
If Brother Lin is unwilling, then Brother Lin can name his price. If the price is right, I am willing to sell the Mother Qi to Brother Lin.
Fragments of a bronze vessel?
Chen Lingxi clearly sensed that Lin Suri paused slightly upon hearing those four words, but then returned to normal.
"Fragments of a bronze vessel? What grade is it?" Lin Suri asked.
The man in black robes gently flicked his sleeve.
Suddenly, a candle appeared silently in the void.
The candle was entirely black, making it impossible to tell whether it was made of gold, jade, or bone. When light fell on it, it was as if it were falling into a well, without any reflection.
"This is a fragment of the Time Candle. The Time Candle is no ordinary vessel, but a vessel from the Golden Palace! Brother Lin, do you now know my sincerity?"
Lin Suri's eyes suddenly flashed with a sharp light, and his pale face showed even more interest.
"Brother Chao! You bring such a treasure to my Marquis Baosu's residence. Aren't you afraid I'll bring my retainers and martial arts experts to surround and kill you, so I can have this treasure all to myself?"
The man in black, surnamed Chao, was not afraid at all and laughed, "Brother Lin is joking. Without the cauldron, neither of us will be able to escape."
Although the fragments of the Time Candle are valuable, they cannot compare to the primordial energy of the Ancestral Mountain, much less to the complete cauldron.
How could Brother Lin risk losing more than he gains for a small gain?
"Moreover..." The smile in the black-clad man surnamed Chao's eyes grew wider: "Let's not even talk about whether Brother Lin is willing to be exposed to Consort Chun's Mirror Listening Technique in the capital, let's just say that I have already reached the fifth level of Qi Circulation!"
Although the Marquis of Baosu's mansion has many martial arts experts, and Brother Lin is here, if I insist on leaving, the Marquis of Baosu's mansion has no martial arts masters at the Jade Qi Realm... I'm afraid Brother Lin won't be able to stop me."
Lin Su Ri remained silent for a few moments.
He suddenly stepped forward and reached out towards the candle of time.
The man in black smiled even more, knowing that Lin Suri had agreed.
Suddenly, black smoke emanated from his body, spreading like thick ink and dissipating in an instant...
"Brother Lin! We'll meet again at Zushan."
Chen Lingxi's consciousness was suddenly shaken, and she felt a chill rise from her heart and rush to the top of her head.
Because through Lin Suri's perspective, he clearly saw that the black-clad man's black robe turned into smoke, and his mask also dissipated like mist.
Even those pale pupils had completely disappeared.
"Some kind of martial art? Or perhaps a trick of deception?"
Chen Lingxi was astonished and didn't know how to understand the scene before her.
"No, it's not martial arts."
His thoughts had barely formed when he immediately dismissed them in his mind.
This was not martial arts, at least not the kind of martial arts he knew, where blood and qi surged and iron and fire fused together. Instead, it was a more mysterious and strange power.
"Mist travel technique... Could it be [Imperial Cloud Post Station]?"
Lin Su Ri rarely spoke to himself, but his gaze remained fixed on the candle of time.
He watched quietly for a long time, and finally moved.
He walked to the painting on the east wall, moved a blue and white porcelain vase that was placed in front of the painting, and then gently tapped the mountain peak in the painting with his knuckles!
Suddenly, a gentle breeze blew by, and the ink painting abruptly rolled up, silently opening a crack in the wall behind it, revealing a secret room inside.
Lin Suri walked into the secret room, the walls closed, and the room was plunged into darkness.
But Chen Lingxi saw it all clearly.
He clearly saw Lin Suri standing in the center of the secret room, holding the Time Candle in his hands, his pale face expressionless, only his eyes were terrifyingly deep.
Two whirlpools seemed to be slowly rotating in his eyes.
Deep within the vortex, a faint golden light was revealed, like dragons and snakes swimming!
At the same time, Chen Lingxi clearly sensed that an extremely thick stream of Qi was flowing out from the vortex of Lin Suri's eyes.
This "Qi" is almost identical to the "Qi" that Chen Lingxi cultivated in his dantian through breathing exercises.
The only difference is that Lin Suri's Qi is extremely thick, a hundred or a thousand times thicker than Chen Lingxi's Qi!
This wisp of air flowed slowly, drifting in the air, and finally landed on the candle of time.
Suddenly, the Time Candle floated up on its own.
Inside the pitch-black candle, a faint crimson light appeared, just like a single eye opening!
"The candlelight flickers, time passes; a few embers fade, yet mountains and rivers remain."
"A wisp of smoke vanishes, a thousand years of white bones sing a song."
Two lines of poetry, like a verse, suddenly echoed in Chen Lingxi's mind.
It wasn't heard, but directly imprinted into the depths of consciousness—old, withered, like a sigh flowing backward from the end of time.
As the poem accompanied it, fine lines appeared on the surface of the black candle, and in the center of the candle, the bright red light slowly swirled open, transforming into a vertical pupil.
A face was reflected deep within the pupil!
Chen Lingxi's breathing suddenly stopped.
That wasn't a human face—at least not the face of a living person.
This face looks like it was pieced together.
His tender eyes were wet with tears, like a baby crying.
His eyebrows were raised high, as if he were a young man with lofty aspirations.
However, her cheeks were covered with age spots, a result of aging...
Features of multiple age groups are simultaneously presented on this face, and they seem to be changing and not fixed!
Even though Chen Lingxi used the divine power of the Divine Chamber to see Lin Su Ri's whereabouts, he still felt that although the face was clearly inside the Candle of Time, it seemed to be looking directly at him through the candle, through the Divine Chamber, and through the barrier between reality and illusion!
An immense, indescribable sense of oppression made his consciousness increasingly sluggish!
"What is this?"
Just then!
Suddenly, a strange power came from outside and entered Chen Lingxi's consciousness in an instant, bringing him back to clarity and dispelling his fear.
"Kamuro?"
Chen Lingxi felt somewhat relieved.
Lin Su Ri still bowed respectfully and slowly greeted the face inside the Candle of Time!
"Greetings, Venerable Ding!"
The vertical pupils on the Candle of Time shifted slightly, and the mouth on the fragmented face opened and closed, its deep voice like the tremors of the earth: "The seeker of truth, aged twenty-four, has reached the fifth level of Qi circulation, but his spiritual aperture has not yet opened." The voice paused, as if chewing on something: "He has a lifespan of seventy-one years."
Lin Suri's expression remained unchanged; he simply lowered his eyes and said, "Your Excellency is wise."
"Now that you have awakened me, you should know the rules." The light in his vertical pupils flickered and then dimmed: "Time is money, but money can't buy time! What do you wish to exchange for what you desire?"
The light in his eyes shone on Lin Suri, making him look like a statue painted in vermilion and gold.
"What this junior requests..." he began, "Spiritual energy!"
"Spiritual energy," the cauldron master replied, his tone flat. "The spiritual energy of this world is still thin, like water about to dry up. A single thread of spiritual energy is priceless. How much do you wish to exchange for it?"
Lin Su bows again.
"Enough..." he said slowly, "Enough for this junior to break through to the sixth level of Qi cultivation."
"The need to break through to the next realm is no small matter." Ding Zun spoke, his voice carrying a hint of amusement: "The twelve levels of Qi circulation are like heavens! The fifth level allows one to cultivate the Qi Sea, close the pores, and remain untouched by dust."
The spiritual liquid in the sixth-floor Qi Sea undergoes nine cycles to remove impurities, requiring spiritual energy to cleanse the meridians and rebuild the foundation… Even in the vast world, it would require three years of arduous work and a hundred spirit crystals.”
It paused, its vertical pupils narrowing into deep slits: "If you wish to achieve success in one fell swoop, the spiritual energy you need should flow straight down like silver bamboo!"
"Twenty years!" Ding Zun's voice suddenly became resounding: "Twenty years of lifespan, enough to obtain the spiritual energy of the Sixth Floor!"
Lin Su Ri's breathing suddenly quickened, and the secret room fell silent for a moment.
"Twenty years have scared you away?" Ding Zun's voice suddenly rose, a mocking expression on his face. "You came here seeking the truth, yet you can't bear to part with twenty years of your lifespan?"
Lin Suri closed his eyes, seemingly weighing something.
After a few more breaths, he finally opened his eyes: "Please, Venerable Ding, bestow upon me spiritual energy."
"Good!" Ding Zun uttered a single word, his vertical pupils suddenly dilating.
The crimson light burst forth like a blood tide, instantly engulfing the entire dark room and even shining through the walls, turning the secret room into a crimson world.
Chen Lingxi's vision was filled with red light, and her consciousness was like a small boat entering a raging sea, violently tossed about.
He suppressed his dizziness and stared intently at the center of the red light.
There, the remnants of time seemed to be melting.
The edges of the Time Candle began to blur and flow, dripping strands of viscous, silvery-gray liquid.
The liquid meandered and flowed in the air, intertwining with each other, gradually outlining the shape of a tree.
At first, it was just a seedling, sprouting branches and leaves; then it grew wildly, its trunk twisted like a dragon, its bark cracked like a tortoise shell, and its branches slanted like halberds.
Within three breaths, the phantom of a towering spiritual tree stood amidst the red light.
The tree was of unknown height, its canopy covering the dome of the dark room, its roots extending into the depths of the void, and each leaf was crystal clear, with silver light flowing through its veins.
At the heart of the tree, a pure and ethereal spiritual energy is condensing.
"This is [Spirit Amber]," the Venerable Ding's voice echoed from the depths of the tree's shadow. "It draws upon the essence of heaven and earth, condensing the spirit of time. This single piece is worth a hundred ordinary spirit crystals, and it is easier to absorb, free from impurities!"